The roads of Johannesburg are at best loathsome – if not for the Jacuzzi-size potholes and assortment of debris strewn across them, then for the idiots that drive them, the taxi drivers and the overloaded bakkies that somehow defy the laws of physics, teetering towers of furniture and other items piled metres high on the back. But when the February torrential downpours hit, potholes go from puddles to ponds and then some, patches of dirt multiply into sand banks worthy of an appearance in oceans somewhere in the Caribbean, and although you know that somewhere beneath the swathing torrents of water rushing past lies a piece of dark grey tarmac, you’d be forgiven for thinking Joburg had been converted into a ramshackle Venice, fit only for boats. It is in these times the sure-footedness of the Subaru Forester shines, with Subaru’s Symmetrical AWD system and the unflappable ability to conquer all.
